Drain the swamp inwhich crime festers

The devil makes work for idle hands. Restoring law and order is one thing; the more difficult task is bringing the underclass back into society

Riot police look on as fire rages through a building in Tottenham, north London

I
t is hard to believe that it was only a week ago that Britain awoke to the dramatic and disturbing news of overnight rioting, looting and arson in Tottenham, north London. That was bad enough but what happened over the following two days and nights was genuinely alarming.

Across London, and in towns and cities up and down England, law and order broke down. The police, tactically inept and deploying too few resources, lost control of the streets in large parts of the capital and in cities such as Manchester. Law-abiding people, including the hard-working business owners and shop keepers who saw their livelihoods destroyed, will not easily forget the sight of criminal thugs smashing, looting and burning their way down their streets and through city centres, sometimes while the police looked on.

This was not, of course, just violence against property. The deliberate mowing-down of three young Indian men